


a love story

by gyuhyun



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2014-11-03
Packaged: 2018-02-23 23:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2559494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gyuhyun/pseuds/gyuhyun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Everyone knew of Kim Jongin but no one really knew him. And I still don't know him but I'd like to think that I knew something about him that most people wouldn't know. It wasn't that I stalked him, but he piqued my interest that I couldn't help but watch as his story began unfolding in my eyes."</p>
            </blockquote>





	a love story

**Author's Note:**

> I'd been planning on doing something like this for a while, since I saw the prompt/challenge on xoxocamp. if you're not sure what the challenge is then it's "16. write a fic where the main pov is from a bystander/someone not involved in the “main" story" but idk.

There was a boy in my high school. No one paid him too much attention, and he blended in the background just like any wallflower.

I'd been classmates with Kim Jongin since the school year started, but I'd known of him since I began high school. Everyone knew of Kim Jongin, the cold boy who rarely smiled —if at all— and had good grades but no friends. He wasn't bad news but no one really paid any more attention to a person like him. Everyone knew of Kim Jongin but no one really knew him. And I still don't know him but I'd like to think that I knew something about him that most people wouldn't know. It wasn't that I stalked him, but he piqued my interest that I couldn't help but watch as his story began unfolding in my eyes.

I don't remember what it really was about him that made me notice him but I remember the day it happened.

 

 

 

 

It was during Math, specifically Geometry. Half the class was drowning out the teacher while I tried my best to listen, failing to keep my eyes open for longer than a second. In my attempt to keep myself awake, I looked around the class and observed my classmates.

There were people sleeping on their arms, only a few were diligently listening and copying notes, and those who were left awake but weren't paying attenion were talking with their friends in hushed whispers. And then when I turned my eyes to him, he was the only one looking out the window, off in his own little world.

He had that bored look in his eyes, the one we all had (yes, even the ones who were jotting down notes). He turned his gaze downwards, and then he must've seen something, because his eyes began to light up and shine in a way I hadn't known possible. And slowly but surely, a smile began to form on his face. That was the first time I'd ever seen Kim Jongin smile.

 

 

I found out later on what it was that made Jongin smile. It wasn't because I wanted to know. I was contented enough to watch Jongin smile to himself during Geometry class while he looked at whatever it was that made him smile. I won't lie and say that I wasn't curious but I knew it was none of my business.

It happened by chance, I guess. I was walking down the stairs to get to the restroom because the ones on our floor had been under renovation. The halls weren't quiet, but they weren't noisy. You could hear the teachers giving out their lecture and the choir praciticing their song for the Summer show. I stopped a little to admire the beauty of the melody and watched the choir outside sing to their hearts content before going on my merry way to the restroom.

I was assigned to clean the classroom that day along with a few of my classmates. I was sweeping by Jongin's seat when I looked out the window and saw that he had the perfect view of the stage, where the choir had been practicing that day. Out of curiosity, I asked my classmates how long had the choir been practicing on the stage outside. After giving me an incredulous look, they told me it started since last week.

The timing was perfect. That was about the time Jongin had begun smiling to himself. And suddenly all the puzzles in my head were pieced together. Jongin was looking at someone, someone was making Jongin smile.

A part of me wanted to know who, but a part of me knew it was none of my business, so I kept my mouth shut and pushed my curiosity to the farthest depths of my mind.

 

 

I didn't mean for it to happen. I was content with knowing that some pretty girl out there was making Jongin smile every day. But maybe it was fate —I will never really know— that I found out just _who_ it was that made him smile. It wasn't some nice pretty girl who was a member of the choir. It wasn't a girl who could reach the highest of notes with her soprano tone. I was wrong. It had been a boy, a boy who with wide eyes and a voice of deep tenor. He was a year ahead of us and was one of the batch's top students. I'd heard of him from the girls in the class who fawned over him.

His name was Do Kyungsoo, overall good guy and just your ordinary male student. One day, I saw him and Jongin talking. It looked like any normal conversation between friends, but Jongin _didn't_ have friends, so it was anything but normal. They'd been in the back of the school, where the fence and the trash cans were found. I'd been tasked to throw out the garbage when I spotted them. I saw them first and hid in the corner as soon as I recognized Jongin. I knew I had to get away from there as soon as possible, that I shouldn't be eavesdropping, but I couldn't help it. So I peeked and I saw Jongin's soft smile, the one he had every time during Geometry and I knew. I just knew it was Kyungsoo he was looking at all those times.

 

 

The knowledge that Jongin liked a boy bothered me, however. Back in those times, a situation like that meant taboo. Boys liking boys meant people getting hurt and shunned by everyone they loved. And yet, I think it was this very reason that I watched them so closely, observed how their love could blossom and survive such trying times.

 

 

Time passed and I tried my best not to see _them_. At first, it was quite easy. I think Jongin was being careful with not being too obvious about his feelings. I thought maybe that Kyungsoo didn't know. I never really knew if I was right. But it made sense to me, it filled the gaps in my theories. Why was Jongin so quiet, why Jongin would sometimes hesitate in approaching him or why he'd look at Kyungsoo with such emotion filled eyes when Kyungsoo wasn't looking. I thought, _'Maybe Kyungsoo didn't know Jongin had feelings for him.'_

It became easy at the start to forget that they had something. It wasn't that they were dull. If I could, I would've watched them like a hawk but it was none of my business and I wanted to remind myself that this wasn't something for me to see. But then _things_ started happening.

 

 

I started noticing these little things happening. It was really random how I noticed it. It almost felt like I was meant to see it. Weird, I know but at the time, that's what it seemed to me. I was walking along the corridor chatting with my friends. I remember laughing at a joke my friend had said and I was laughing so hard I had to look away to clutch my stomach and stop from walking. When I'd calmed down and was gasping for air, I focused my eyes out the window, which was the side of the corridor I was facing. I saw Jongin walk from one end and Kyungsoo the other. It was obvious Kyungsoo was going to where Jongin had come from and when they passed by me, I saw their fingers brush. Time seemed to stop or go slow for a moment as I saw their fingers touch, curling as if wanting to intertwine with the other fingers that brushed past through.

And I just knew something had shifted.

After that, most of the time, when I saw something, it wasn't always a coincidence. Because I'd begun to look for something and sometimes I got lucky, sometimes I didn't but that didn't matter. Kyungsoo and Jongin's relationship was blossoming, with or without me.

The first time I saw them kiss was by coincidence though.

I was going to the back of the school, having been assigned garbage duty again. A part of me was hoping I could catch a glimpse of them there because I'd found out it was one of their secret places. I guess since I'd known, it wasn't much of a secret.

It happened just as I stepped right into view. But they couldn't and wouldn't see me. Jongin's hand was on Kyungsoo's cheek, their profiles were the only thing I could see. They both had their eyes closed and I held in my breath as I watched Jongin slowly but sweetly press his lips against Kyungsoo's. I had to stop myself from gasping and quietly exited the vicinity to give the two more privacy.

I'd like to think that was their first kiss but I could never be sure. I would never really know.

A lot of things happened after that. I caught them more and more. And I stopped caring whether it was because I wanted to see something happen or if it was purely by coincidence.

Sometimes I'd see them walking down the stairs, back of their hands brushing to and fro and their fingers itching to feel the other's warmth against them. I tried not to stare every time. I kept my head leveled and my attention away, but from the corner of my eye, I could still see them. There were times when Jongin would subtly hold Kyungsoo's hand for that half a second as he passed and every time, _every time_ , I held my breath and let it go as soon as their hands separated. The smiles on their faces were so small that you wouldn't think anything of it but their eyes told a different story. Their eyes were filled with so much happiness.

But the most significant moment of theirs I'd ever seen didn't consist of secret touches or chaste kisses. None of that. It was simpler and more profound than my teenage self could ever fathom.

I was in the library, in the section where most students wouldn't even bother going to. And I guess that's why they were there. From the spaces of the books, I could see them almost perfectly. Jongin had Kyungsoo trapped in between him and the bookshelf, a hand on the side of Kyungsoo head and the other probably playing with older's fingers. I couldn't really see, I was too busy trying to hear what they were saying.

Kyungsoo was giggling and Jongin's smile was soft and beautiful, it was that smile that only Kyungsoo could ever make appear. Then Kyungsoo's hand caressed Jongin's face and he leaned in to the touch, closing his eyes as if basking in the feeling of it. I saw Kyungsoo mouth something and I think it was 'I love you', it certainly sounded like it and I held my breath once more. Jongin just smiled, eyes still closed and leaned his forehead against Kyungsoo's. He took the hand balancing him on the bookshelf and used it to keep Kyungsoo's hand on his cheek and he slowly opened his eyes. He intertwined their fingers and, without taking his eyes off of Kyungsoo's, he whispered back the same words.

My heart skipped a beat and somewhere a part of it fell away, just a tiny piece, tore away from me and went to these two.

At the time, I didn't know what love was. It wasn't until I saw the way they looked at each other, that I did.

It was so beautiful.

And yet, so heartbreaking.

 

 

Every moment after that was still magical in it's own way. It felt like watching a flower bloom in the middle of winter. It was love and more.

 

 

And before I knew it, Kyungsoo's graduation had come.

Being Juniors, we were tasked to watch the entire ceremony. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. But it didn't really concern most of us. Most that wanted to watch either had friends in the batch or crushes they wanted to silently say goodbye to. I on the other hand wanted to see what Jongin and Kyungsoo would do. They were their normal selves during the whole ceremony. It wasn't until it was over that Jongin had sneaked Kyungsoo away to the back of the school. It was their favorite hideout I guessed. My friends were talking about all the goodlooking upperclassmen going away and leaving the rest of us with our ugly batchmates. I was laughing along but in the corner of my eye I was watching as Jongin bravely held Kyungsoo's hand, knotting their fingers in a tight grip and whisked him away to probably give him a proper congratulations.

It was the last time I ever saw them.

Jongin had moved away to a different school to graduate. Kyungsoo went on to university.

I don't really know whatever happened to them after that.

Sometimes, I'd like to think that God was kind to them. Sometimes I close my eyes and dream that they made it through, that their love made it through it all. It's a bit far fetched but their love was so beautiful that I can't help but want to think that the fire that began to flicker back in those days is now burning bright and is still burning until now.

I would never really find out. I guess that would be my only regret, that I can never see this story to completion. But I got to see what love looked like. I may have not experienced it for myself but to have _seen_ it with my own eyes. It was still beautiful. And that was probably the greatest lesson I learned from Kyungsoo and Jongin.

_Love is a flower that blossoms. And it will always be beautiful, no matter where it's planted._


End file.
